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Vol. 4 – No. 42 ♦
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FR EE
July 4, 2020 – July 10, 2020
Murphy’s Order Forces Eateries to Back Off Plans for Indoor Dining
SLOW BURN
Some Owners Say They Understand Concerns, Despite Disappointment By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer Photo By Amanda Somes
What remains of an approximately 16-acre area of the Bass River State Forest that was clear cut in January.
Ire Over the DEP-Ordered Clear Cutting of 16 Acres of White Pines in Bass River State Forest Is Being Rekindled by the Unsightly Site, But the Overseer of the Job Says a Misconception Is to Blame By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer
BASS RIVER—What now remains of approximately 16 acres of 80-100-foot tall white and loblolly pines in Bass River State Forest that were clear cut back in January on orders from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS), an arm of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), is quite obviously anything but a pretty sight. But the expanses of tree debris and stumps left in the wake of the deliberate destruction of what came to be known as the “Cathedral of the Pines,” most of which was planted back in the 1930s by the Roosevelt’s administration’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), aren’t supposed to be a pretty sight—at least, not at this stage of the aftermath, according to Colin McLaughlin, head of operations for Advanced Forestry Solutions, the Salem County-based contracting firm hired by the state to complete the clear cut. “After you get done logging a site, it looks like a bomb went off,” said McLaughlin in an interview with this newspaper. “But once they burn it, that will clear it all up.” McLaughlin was the guy in charge of taking down the majestic mini-forest, which had partially blocked the view from the top of an 86-foot tall Bass River fire tower which firefighters from the NJFFS use to survey the surrounding pinelands for any signs of a wildfire. McLaughlin’s company was contacted by the Pine Barrens Tribune after the paper received an email, accompanied by photos
of the site off East Greenbush Road, from Amanda Somes, the municipal clerk for Bass River Township, who said she had been asked by Mayor Deborah Buzby-Cope to reach out to everyone she could regarding the “terrible condition” of the clear-cut area. “From what I remember f rom the approvals and the applications from NJDEP, the site was to be cut, stumps ground down and area replanted,” Somes wrote. “As you can see, nothing is done. The pictures don’t do the site justice. It looks worse in person. This cutting took place long before the issue with COVID-19.” According to McLaughlin, however, the clean-up and burning of what was left after the lumber was removed to be sold to sawmills and pulp mills wasn’t anything that was supposed to occur immediately, and the idea that it should have is “a huge misconception” on the part of the public. In the meantime, McLaughlin said, it takes several months for the remaining limbs and stumps to be sufficiently seasoned to burn cleanly, and such controlled burns can only be done for a limited time during the late fall and winter, depending on weather conditions. Trying to set that debris ablaze immediately after the job was completed, he pointed out, would be akin to attempting to burn wet wood in a fireplace, and cause for a lot of complaints about the resulting smoke. In the meantime, McLaughlin contended, the material left behind, which many people might view as an eyesore, actually serves some very useful ecological purposes. For one thing, he said, such detritus, in the process of slowly breaking down, enriches
the soil and protects it from erosion while it regenerates. For another, it provides temporary habitat for small animals, turtles and snakes, who use it to sun themselves, rather than doing so on the road. “If you were to pull all the stumps without leaving any debris, it would be a farm field, and offer no cover for the animals,” he said. “The predators would eat everything. What you see there might not be pleasing to the eye, but habitat-wise, for the birds, the snakes, all the things that people want in the Pine Barrens, that is what these species need. It is not just a matter of driving by and saying ‘that’s ugly.’ There are rules for doing forestry work, and we followed all the protocols.” However, he maintained, because “nobody does logging in plain sight anymore,” at least here in New Jersey, most people who are simply concerned about the visuals and the aesthetics involved don’t understand that there is a big difference between clearing a site to build a house and the kind of normal forestry practices exemplified by the current condition of the land adjacent to the fire tower. “Maybe it just wasn’t explained well enough, or they misinter preted (the information),” said McLaughlin, whose firm has been engaged in forestry work since 2007, mostly on privately-owned land. “But if you want it done right, that is what you see.” The Pinelands, he added, “is not a park, and was never intended to be one.” Eventually, he noted, the NJDEP can be See BURN/ Page 8
M EDFOR D — De moc r at ic Gove r nor Phil Murphy’s executive order on June 29 temporarily halting the resumption of indoor dining, which had been scheduled to resume later in the week, has caused predictable consternation on the part of area restaurants that had gone to considerable lengths and expense to prepare for it. “Unfortunately, the spike in cases in numerous other states, compounded by instances of non-compliance in New Jersey, require us to hit pause on the restart of indoor dining indefinitely,” the governor explained in an accompanying press release. Murphy also noted that he recognized “that there are many establishments whose owners, managers, and customers have been responsible,” but said the state cannot move forward with indoor dining unless there is complete compliance. “Throughout every step of our restart, we have been clear that we would not hesitate to hit pause to safeguard public health, and this is one of those times,” Murphy said. Despite that explanation, the proprietors of two popular eateries in the Pines used the word “disappointing” to describe how they felt about the unexpected edict in telephone interviews with this newspaper. “Everyone put all this money in to get ready with advertising and marketing, bringing staff back, and setting up menus,” said Peter Dickinson, general manager of Braddock’s in Medford, who maintained that restaurants such as his are the most sanitary and well-managed of all businesses. “This was kind of pulling the rug out from underneath us.” Dickinson said people in his industry were all scrupulously following the rules laid down by the state, both because they want to stay open and don’t want to get sick themselves. In his establishment, these include sanitizing all tables and maintaining “sanitation stations” by both the entrances and the restrooms, which only one patron at a time is allowed to enter, requiring all employees to wear masks and gloves, making extra masks available if anyone doesn’t have one, and maintaining strict social distancing of at least 6 feet. Braddock’s also won’t allow anyone on its premises who won’t wear a mask, he said, and while “we’re polite about it, at the end of the See DINING/ Page 5
INDEX Business Directory..... 9
Job Board................. 10
Marketplace...............11
Fourth of July Tips...... 2
Local News................. 3
Worship Guide............ 8
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